New Madrid Open Tennis Stadium An Architectural Achievement
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La Caja Magica Features Three Main Courts
With Retractable Roofs, All In Same Arena |
La Caja Mágica, the "new, avant garde home of the combined" ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Madrid Open, which is under way this week, is an "architectural achievement," according to Christopher Clarey of the N.Y. TIMES. The complex, featuring "three main courts with retractable roofs, all in the same arena," is a "shape-shifting statement of [Madrid's] ambition to become a nexus for international sport." Madrid Open Owner Ioc Tiriac said the facility is a "tennis Taj Mahal." Architect Dominique Perrault said the complex is a "box that transforms itself constantly: closed, open or illuminated." The three adjustable roofs are the "signature feature" of La Caja Magica, "giving Madrid instant bragging rights over any other tennis tournament." The roofs "can open or close in 20 minutes," and they are a "step beyond" those at Melbourne Park for the Australian Open. Perrault: "We can be 100[%] outdoors, and in that case, the roof slides. And then there are these intermediate positions which are very comfortable and which give the feeling of being outdoors but also protect the courts from the wind." Clarey noted the stadium court seats about 12,500 fans, while the second court seats about 5,000 and the third seats 3,000. The facility "required seven years of planning" and about US$254.4M in public financing, "provided with the Olympic bids for 2012 and now 2016 in mind" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/9).
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